Phillip Howard enters transfer portal

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Best of luck to him, hopefully he finds a good fit.
 

Seemed like a nice athlete, never settled into a role unfortunately.
 


BeerFueledFF said:
Unfortunately we need to make room, hopefully he finds a good landing spot.
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I don't think this is one we would nudge out the door. Strong ties to his HS program and I believe it is his brother that is a Freshman and already getting big time offers?
 


MinnGopher said:
I don't think this is one we would nudge out the door. Strong ties to his HS program and I believe it is his brother that is a Freshman and already getting big time offers?
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Not saying we forced him out, but it was getting crowded, and some of the spots that free up will be from natural attrition like this where a guy wants more playing time at a new school.
 

BeerFueledFF said:
Not saying we forced him out, but it was getting crowded, and some of the spots that free up will be from natural attrition like this where a guy wants more playing time at a new school.
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I would go with (this is purely conjecture) that PJ sits down with all his position coaches and makes next years depth chart then sits down with every player to be realistic about what the next year(s) looks like for each guy. Could be as simple as here's where you are in the depth chart, are you ok with that or do you want the opportunity to move on?
 



Bummer. I always had high hopes for Phil and he contributed a decent amount this season. Best of luck
 

BeerFueledFF said:
Not saying we forced him out, but it was getting crowded, and some of the spots that free up will be from natural attrition like this where a guy wants more playing time at a new school.
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You are right, it is getting crowded at the skill positions, which is honestly a nice new problem to have. I thought you were implying that we may have nudged him out when you said "we need to make room," my bad
 


He has one year left to play and likely got his degree. With how many DBs we have, not completely shocked to see him make this decision.
 




A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah this isn't like the usual "didn't see the field" kinda thing.
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But it kind of is...

Other than special teams he never really saw the field except Rutgers, and it wasn’t going to be easier for him to get playing time next year.
 

Does a school have to offer a fifth year? Here Howard had four years of scholarship and appears he will obtained a bachelors degree. Could the offer for him be - hey, love to have you on the team next year but it would be the equivalent of a PWO and we see you on special teams and 2-3 deep on the db depth chart.
 

I wish him the very best. As Minnesota climb the heights of college football, competition will become more intense. Some kids that normally will have been regular starters are going to be eclipsed by other players. Kudos to him for giving his all for four years.

Phillip Howard - Football - University of Minnesota Athletics

Phillip Howard (2) DB - PRONUNCIATION Your browser does not support HTML5 audio. ...
gophersports.com gophersports.com

 

He is a graduate of the U and likely wanted to see more PT.

He might have had a chance to fight for some time after Durr/St. juste/T. Smith/K. Thomas but I think be probably saw the writing on the wall a little.

I also think we should expect to see one of the FR CBs get a lot of run. We are in line to graduate at least three (Durr/K. Thomas/Harris) after next year and it wouldn't be surprising to see St. Juste leave after next year too. PJ has done a really nice job of getting people PT before they are thrown into a role.

I had high hopes for Phillip, he as a really good HS football player. He just had injury issues when he was young and then got stuck behind a wave of talent at WR.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
He is a graduate of the U and likely wanted to see more PT.

He might have had a chance to fight for some time after Durr/St. juste/T. Smith/K. Thomas but I think be probably saw the writing on the wall a little.

I also think we should expect to see one of the FR CBs get a lot of run. We are in line to graduate at least three (Durr/K. Thomas/Harris) after next year and it wouldn't be surprising to see St. Juste leave after next year too. PJ has done a really nice job of getting people PT before they are thrown into a role.

I had high hopes for Phillip, he as a really good HS football player. He just had injury issues when he was young and then got stuck behind a wave of talent at WR.
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Justus Harris is a special teams stand out, but has gotten about 5-6 meaningful snaps as a DB in his college career. I’ve watched him get picked on and quite frankly torched almost every time. I don’t think he can cover D-1 WRs.

Fully agree that this is likely St Juste’s last year. At the rate he’s been going he probably already has a few master’s degrees.
 

corcorangopher said:
Does a school have to offer a fifth year? Here Howard had four years of scholarship and appears he will obtained a bachelors degree. Could the offer for him be - hey, love to have you on the team next year but it would be the equivalent of a PWO and we see you on special teams and 2-3 deep on the db depth chart.
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That is a really interesting question.

I would be curious to look at the language of the new(ish) rules that now guarantee the scholarships, and if they are explicit or what the realistic interpretation would be of if/when a player earns the bachelor's degree before running out of eligibility.


With so many guys (it seems) now doing the grad transfer thing, I wonder if the rules need to be refreshed to keep up with this trend, in a few ways?
 

Best of luck to Phillip. I really thought he would be in the mix next year. Thanks for your contributions!
 


The Gophers are at a point in their ascendancy in the Big Ten West where they are starting to get good quality depth. Players like Howard get eclipsed by better players. I hate to say it, but that is when you know a program has arrived.

PJ Fleck is truly out recruiting each class. The recruiting war is constant, and they have to have contincencies on top of contingencies. They need to cover players that declare early. They also have to factor in the "normal" attrition. No one expects to have career altering injuries or illnesses. They have to always try to have a spare and a half via scholie , walk-ons, or transfers into the program.

If we look back at all the promising prospects in each class whose careers are shortened by injuries and health issues, I would not be surprised at the numbers. I don't have time to look into that. If someone has time on their hands, that will be an interesting examination.

This is one more reason to get excited about the hiring of Sanford. He is a good recruiter. The Gophers are not settling for a conference title. They are shooting for the moon! And they are going to recruit accordingly.
 

Didn't see that coming, but best of luck to him.
 




MplsGopher said:
In his defense ... sometimes your sarcasm doesn't really come through, when you don't use any extra punctuation, /s, or emoji's to communicate it.
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Yeah, I knew what Spoofin was referencing, but unless you remembered that exact thread you'd miss the "joke"
 

MplsGopher said:
In his defense ... sometimes your sarcasm doesn't really come through, when you don't use any extra punctuation, /s, or emoji's to communicate it.
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Way too much behind that poster to go into things. He got banned in less than a day. 5th or 6th screen name in the past month to be banned. His response had nothing to do with “not catching sarcasm”.
 


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